B'wood awaits four big-budget films to cheer industry gloom By Anurag Sharma

New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) With global meltdown hitting
the markets hard, its effect has been seen on the Mumbai film
industry already reeling under the impact of some big budget
flops.

In these trying times, the industry is eagerly waiting
with fingers crossed, the release of four big-budget films by
Khans and Kumars of tinsel town that can give the film
industry some respite, say insiders.

"This year it will be difficult for Bollywood to equal
previous year's growth due to the global economic meltdown in
the market. But why blame only the market, even filmmakers are
not producing good films. Banks are not ready to give money.
After big budget films like 'Drona', 'Kidnap' and 'Karzzzz'
bombed at the Box Office, it forced corporates to take a long
hard look at their finances," says film trade analyst Taran
Adarsh.

And what would happen to fat paychecks of 40-50
crores to numero uno's of Bollywood? "It will certainly have
an impact over the soaring stars fees and budget of the film,"
he adds.

Ramesh Taurani of Tips says that this is a temporary
phase and it will get over. "There is a correction in the
prices of everyone from technical staff to stars, which is
good as some of the actors were demanding sky high prices. It
is also affecting the selling prices of distribution rights."

Filmmakers who normally used to get easy loans from
banks to produce their movies are no more finding lenders as
the current global financial instability making the condition
worse and banks refusing to give funds to Bollywood that
received an industry status, a few years ago.

"The main reason behind all these losses is that
corporates who started financing the films to earn fast money
have over-estimated by offering actors huge sums without
thinking of recovering the cost in the event the films bomb,"
says Vinod Chhabra, producer and distributor.

Hinting at A-list film producers, he says that they
have been showing fictitious profits of films to mislead the
public. "And now as more than 95 per cent the films have
bombed at the box office, there is a cash crunch in the
industry," he says, adding that the film industry has lost
close to Rs 600 million in the month of October alone.

According to FICCI-PwC Entertainment & Media report
2008, the growth of the sector was a healthy one in 2007, i.e.
over 17 per cent over 2006 but it may come down to single
digits this year, thanks to slowdown in consumer spending
across categories and cautious producers stalling projects.

Films such as Salman Khan's 'Yuvvraaj', Shahrukh
Khan's 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Aamir Khan's 'Ghajini' and Akshay
Kumar's 'Chandni Chowk To China' are some movies which have
been predicted to be a big hit.

"Surely, a lot would depend on how 'Ghajini', 'Rab Ne
Bana Di Jodi' and 'Chandni Chowk To China' fare at the
box-office," says Adarsh.

"These are over-hyped films. But time will tell.
Nowadays, producers invest many crores in the films so the
risk is also high. After so much promotion and getting good
reviews, 'Dostana' has not even got a decent collection at the
box office. Our audience is still not ready for these
experiments. Many producers like me are sitting at home and
have no work. It has become very difficult for us to survive,"
says Chhabra. PTI ASH
PMR